“It would grind to a halt and become useless.
Imagine ALL cash registers in the US hooked up to ONE computer.
Imagine then that EVERY sale/transaction had to be backtracked and verified through a chain of data that included all transactions that ever occurred.
It’s just not possible.”
Yeah, that’s what I thought, which seems to me to mean that bitcoin does not have much utility as an actual currency. Which then makes me wonder WHAT its real utility is, and therefore why it should have any intrinsic value at all. At least REAL commodities have utility, namely you can eat them or use them to make something that is useful and can be sold for a profit. What can you do with bitcoin except pretend like it is money or a commodity?
Every new technology has growing pains. Someone will figure it out...
Well, in a sense it is money without any counter-party exposure.
What does that mean?
Well, you might have 100,000 in the bank. You get to walk around and tell everyone “I have 100,000 in the bank!”
Try to pick up girls. Think about buyin a new car.
But in fact it is NOT up to you to decide or declare if you have 100,000 in the bank. You ONLY have 100,000 in the bank if SOMEONE AT THE BANK IS WILLING TO SAY SO!
Same with stocks (unless you have the physical certificate). Same with bonds and Money Market accounts and pensions... etc etc etc.
But with bitcoin, you have the wallet. Any bitcoins in your wallet exist ONLY in your wallet and nowhere else. Other people can verify they are in there for their own satisfaction, but the bitcoins in your wallet do not exist because some person/institution says they do.
So as of now, it is a finite, non-counterfeitable commodity, and that is a big part of it’s appeal. It can achieve an equilibrium price and from there is relatively secure.